Prestige and power
A tried and tested means for the rich Landshut dukes to flaunt their wealth and power were weddings and funeral ceremonies. The magnificent wedding of Duke George and Hedwig of Poland was entirely in the tradition of the Landshut ducal court. On the occasion of the marriage celebration of Duke Ludwig with the Saxon Amalie in 1452, for example, guests and commoners were entertained at the ducal expense in Landshut. During the wedding festivities, by ducal order, all stores remained closed, and all in the city were treated daily to a measure of red or white wine in the morning and evening and a loaf of bread free of charge. The wedding guests of princely rank added splendor to the feast, which was accompanied by tournaments. About 9,000 horses were fed daily from the ducal oat supplies. In other words, the far less well-known wedding of Ludwig the Rich was in no way inferior to that of his son George to the Polish princess Hedwig in 1475. At the conclusion and climax of the festivities, a magnificent tournament was held in Landshut with 70 participating horses, on the occasion of which princely splendour was displayed with precious armor, weapons and fabrics.
The funeral ceremonies of the wealthy Landshut dukes were also expensive and of a highly representative character. All four dukes of the partial line of Bavaria-Landshut found their final resting place in the church of the Landshut Cistercian monastery of Seligenthal, established as a Wittelsbach burial place and house monastery after the assassination of Duke Ludwig I in Kelheim by the duchess dowager Ludmilla. From 1259 to 1579 more than forty members of the House of Wittelsbach were buried here, including all four dukes of the partial line of Bavaria-Landshut.
After his death on July 30, 1450, Henry XVI was buried in the earthen grave of his father Frederick, the first duke of Landshut. For this purpose, the existing coffin chest was broken open, Henry’s body was placed inside and sprinkled with lime and earth for disinfection. These funeral ceremonies reached their climax with the Grebnuß, which was presided over by Ludwig the Rich, Henry’s son and successor, after thirty days had passed. The ecclesiastical celebration was followed by a secular one in the city of Landshut, where about 4,000 people were fed. Not only guests dining at court were entertained at ducal expense. The priesthood and inhabitants of Landshut were also fed from a kitchen set up for this purpose at the market. For the poor population of Landshut and the surrounding area, a meal was prepared separately in the Holy Spirit Hospital, at which 18 buckets of wine, about 1,231 litres, were served. In the Saxon World Chronicle, 40,000 guilders were recorded for this funeral service, which was probably an overestimate, but it nevertheless illustrates the enormous financial outlay and pomp that Ludwig the Rich made in memory of his deceased father. The wedding of his son to the Polish king’s daughter Hedwig in 1475 cost him around 60,000 gulden – almost the entire annual net income of his duchy of Bavaria-Landshut.
In accordance with the increased pomp of Ludwig in comparison with his father Henry, the funeral of Duke Ludwig, who died on January 18, 1479 after a long illness, was also markedly grander. While ceremonial procedure and burial in the Seligenthal family grave at the death of Henry and Ludwig hardly differed, considerably more people took part in Ludwig’s funeral procession and memorial services, more masses were said in the duchy for the salvation of the duke’s soul, and twice as many mourners were invited to the official funeral service. According to the list of the ducal feed master Leonhard Panberger, a total of 8,925 horses were fed in the ducal residence city of Landshut during the Grebnuß celebrated in 1479. An enormous number for a funeral service, especially in comparison to the approximately 9,000 horses at Ludwig’s wedding to Amalie in 1452 and the 9,264 steeds at the Landshut wedding of 1475.
Irmgard Lackner
Further reading:
Biersack, Irmgard, Die Hofhaltung der „reichen Herzöge“ von Bayern-Landshut (=Regensburger Beiträge zur Regionalgeschichte 2), Regensburg 2006.
Lackner, Irmgard, Herzog Ludwig IX. der Reiche von Bayern-Landshut (1450-1479). Reichsfürstliche Politik gegenüber Kaiser und Reichsständen, Regensburg 2011 (Regensburger Beiträge zur Regionalgeschichte 11).
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